Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped an E-commerce Startup with a Paycheck to Exit

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

There are roll-ups of e-commerce brands going on right now. This case study delves into one such that has exited into a roll-up effort.

Jay Perkins, Co-founder of Kettlebell Kings, currently runs Living.Fit which produces digital workouts, fitness education courses, and fitness equipment.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Jay Perkins: I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. In 2004, I moved to Austin, Texas to go to college at the University of Texas. Pretty soon after arriving in Austin, I just fell in love with it. I felt like this was an incredible place to be in.

>>>

Building a Million-Dollar E-commerce Business in Fashion

I started one of the Internet’s first fashion e-commerce companies in 1999. It was very expensive to do so at the time.

Today, an online fashion business can be launched in an extraordinarily capital-efficient manner. 

There are so many effective e-commerce platforms from Amazon, eBay and Etsy to Shopify and BigCommerce that will allow you to either start selling through their marketplaces or create your storefront for just a few dollars. 

>>>

Real-World Examples for Building a Successful Two-Sided E-commerce Marketplace

Two-sided marketplaces are becoming increasingly popular in the e-commerce startup world. eBay and Etsy are some of the most obvious examples of two-sided marketplaces, but now we are seeing a lot of niche and esoteric marketplaces as well all over the world. 

So what does it take to be successful in this kind of business? 

This Udemy course provides real-world examples of successful two-sided marketplaces, as well as a step-by-step breakdown on how they were built.

1. Building a Two-Sided E-commerce Marketplace w/ Sramana Mitra

>>>

Solo Entrepreneur Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Venture to $12 Million: Sawyer Twain CEO Chris Turner (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What was your team building strategy?

Chris Turner: At first, you just want to get people to be as passionate about the business as you are. It takes some time to realize that that’s not going to be the case. First, it was challenging. I have my own internal flaws. I could be a perfectionist. I don’t want to say micromanager, but, for the lack of a better word, I could be very anal on certain things. We rotated a handful of people.

Solo Entrepreneur Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Venture to $12 Million: Sawyer Twain CEO Chris Turner (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: The two of you launched this thing around 2012?

Chris Turner: Around 2015.

Sramana Mitra: Did you take inventory or consignments?

Solo Entrepreneur Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Venture to $12 Million: Sawyer Twain CEO Chris Turner (Part 1)

It is very difficult to find gaps in e-commerce these days. Chris found one and executed the hell out of it.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Chris Turner: I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. I graduated from Arizona State University back in 2004.

Building a PropTech Venture with a Virtual Team: Discount Lots President Paul Hersko (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What is your primary use case? City dwellers wanting to buy property outside the city?

Paul Hersko: Yes, I would say so.

Sramana Mitra: Were you self-financing still at this point?

Building a PropTech Venture with a Virtual Team: Discount Lots President Paul Hersko (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: All of the properties are in Los Angeles?

Paul Hersko: In the desert though, like near Joshua Tree. That’s how we started. We just bought a bunch of properties.

Sramana Mitra: Why did you choose outside of Los Angeles area?